2014 CX-5 Liftgate Won't Open

2014 touring fwd cx-5. Yesterday, out of the blue, the lift gate stopped unlocking/opening. I can release it manually from the inside but nothing I do with the remote or door switch will unlock the lift gate. Online search turns up other instances and all say just go to dealer for a repair. Guess that's what I'll end up doing but was just curious if anyone else has had this happen and what the cause was once it was fixed.
Thx!
Bill
 
Yeah...fuses are okay.

After digging around on the interweb it sounds like the actuator which releases the latch has gone bad. Made appointment at dealership to drop it off Monday morning to have it checked out and repaired. Not under warranty so I hope the part isn't too outrageously priced. Just the lift gate switch is around $40.00 USD so I'm sure the actuator is more than that. We'll see....
 
Took matters into my own hands after the dealership told me the labor rate was $124.00 USD / hour. Since the most likely culprit was the lift gate latch / actuator I found one locally and bought it. Took out the old unit, installed the new unit and things are back to normal. The latch / actuator was $127.00 USD so not too bad. Just glad to be able to open the lift gate again!
Bill
 
Took matters into my own hands after the dealership told me the labor rate was $124.00 USD / hour. Since the most likely culprit was the lift gate latch / actuator I found one locally and bought it. Took out the old unit, installed the new unit and things are back to normal. The latch / actuator was $127.00 USD so not too bad. Just glad to be able to open the lift gate again!
Bill
Yep it's the liftgate latch actuator as I recall someone else here had the similar problem. Also make sure there's no water getting into the area which may cause early failure of actuator and I believe there's a TSB for it.
 
Any idea where the TSB can be found? Was the water getting in at the top of the lift gate and running down? Just curious since it makes sense that water would definitely shorten the life of the actuator and we've had a lot of rain in S Texas the last couple of years. Might be why mine failed.
Thx!
Bill
 
Well crap! The new actuator crapped out today. Lasted just a couple of days. So the problem may be further up stream...maybe the switch is bad and causing the actuators to fail? Off to look at how hard it is to swap a switch...
Bill
 
Well crap! The new actuator crapped out today. Lasted just a couple of days. So the problem may be further up stream...maybe the switch is bad and causing the actuators to fail? Off to look at how hard it is to swap a switch...
Bill
Sorry to hear that! You can compare both old and new actuators and see if there is any difference between the two. You can measure the ohms of both actuators with multimeter and see if both relay coils are still fine. And when you say the switch, is it the touch micro switch on the liftgate to trigger the actuator? You can also use multimeter to check if the switch is functioning.
 
Quick follow up: After waiting a while because I figured the fix was going to be semi-expensive, I decided to replace the only other part that made sense as far as what was going on...the lifgate switch. Figured $35.00 USD was worth a try before taking the CX-5 in and being without it for who knows how long. Installed the new switch and things seem to be back to normal. Hopefully this fix will last longer than the two days the last fix lasted when I replaced the actuator.

Soooo...if anyone has a liftgate not opening when the switch is pressed, I would recommend replacing the switch first to see if that solves the problem.

FYI: the old switch seems to be a "membrane" type switch and the new switch is a physical type switch with contacts inside. New switch "clicks" where the old switch "mushed" if that makes sense. Hopefully the new switch will last longer.
Bill
 
Sigh. Replacing the switch fixed the problem for about 10 days. Either something upstream from the switch is causing the failure or water is getting in the liftgate and causing a failure. Since I've already replaced the actuator and the switch I guess I'll crack open the piggy bank and take it to the dealer to see if they can fix it.

Anchorman: I think the original membrane switch was intermittently shorting, causing the problem to happen off and on. I'll check the new switch tomorrow but I don't think it's shorting. I could be wrong if water has gotten into it. I'll see what the new switch shows tomorrow with a meter on it.
Bill
 
My hatch is now stuck shut. Wife was hearing strange noises sounding like electrical buzzing and poof. I haven*t checked the fuses yet and now pushing the hatch button returns silence.
 
Has it rained recently? My issue turned out to be a bad seal around the rear wiper shaft where it comes through the glass that allowed water to get in and short out the switch and/or actuator. Supposedly there are other known issues about water getting in and messing up those parts but on mine it was that durned seal.
 
Has it rained recently? My issue turned out to be a bad seal around the rear wiper shaft where it comes through the glass that allowed water to get in and short out the switch and/or actuator. Supposedly there are other known issues about water getting in and messing up those parts but on mine it was that durned seal.

It did stop working after the last heavy rain so I will see if there is any evidence of moister when I take it apart this weekend. Thanks.
 
So the switch pins are fried and broken off into the wiring clip. I bought the switch and have to pry the broken pin out of the connector without doing damage. Not sure why it fried in the first place, but this will be a fun project for Saturday.
 
I went through the same thing...replaced the switch and the actuator...and still had it fail again after a rain. Check the seal around the shaft of the wiper in back or any other place water could get in when it rains. If water is getting in it will just fail again.
 
I went through the same thing...replaced the switch and the actuator...and still had it fail again after a rain. Check the seal around the shaft of the wiper in back or any other place water could get in when it rains. If water is getting in it will just fail again.

Hi Bill,
Have you figured out that rear hatch problem? I live in southern california and have had my 2016 cx5 for about 2 years. Been having intermittent issues with the rear hatch not opening. Its like it has a mind of its own. Replaced the switch and no luck. I brought it to the dealer and it works all of a sudden. It's so weird.

Any info would be great.
 
Check the gasket around the rear wiper shaft where it goes through the liftgate window. Look for cracks in the gasket.That's where my issue was. Body shop tore the gasket that the shaft goes through and that allowed water (rain, carwash, sprinkler, whatever) to drip down inside the liftgate and get on the switch. Once the dealer saw that the gasket was torn, they replaced the gasket and the switch and (I think) installed a plastic cover over the switch and wiring that is supposed to keep any water that gets inside from getting on the switch and wires inside. Once the gasket and new switch were installed it hasn't failed again.

Could also be corrosion in the connectors inside. If you can remove the inside cover on the liftgate you could unplug and replug the connectors several times to see if that helps.

Worst case the actuator could be going bad? Hard to easily diagnose that. Especially if it's an intermittent problem.
Good luck and let us know what fixes your '16.
 
Check the gasket around the rear wiper shaft where it goes through the liftgate window. Look for cracks in the gasket.That's where my issue was. Body shop tore the gasket that the shaft goes through and that allowed water (rain, carwash, sprinkler, whatever) to drip down inside the liftgate and get on the switch. Once the dealer saw that the gasket was torn, they replaced the gasket and the switch and (I think) installed a plastic cover over the switch and wiring that is supposed to keep any water that gets inside from getting on the switch and wires inside. Once the gasket and new switch were installed it hasn't failed again.

Could also be corrosion in the connectors inside. If you can remove the inside cover on the liftgate you could unplug and replug the connectors several times to see if that helps.

Worst case the actuator could be going bad? Hard to easily diagnose that. Especially if it's an intermittent problem.
Good luck and let us know what fixes your '16.

The gasket around the rear window is fine. I don't think it's a moisture thing since it hasn't rained here for a long time.

I finally took it to the dealership because I'm still under my extended warranty...and it was failing pretty bad consistently. I had to get it there quickly because I would need it to fail in front of them so they can witness it and it did. I was glad they saw it fail because I thought I was going crazy. Last couple times I've brought it there, it would work...so frustrating.

They replaced the switch and it worked. I drove it home and it started to fail again. Drove it back later and they replaced the actuator. Drove home and had the same result. Sometimes it'll unlock and sometimes it wouldn't. They went on to replace the body control module...no luck.

Replaced the alarm system because there was a possibility that it may have been interfering with the locking/unlocking. Nope, not that.

A mazda engineer is working on it now so I hope they can figure it out. The dealership has been very helpful and accommodating with this issue.
 
They may need to replace the connectors on the switch and actuator wiring. The connectors can get corroded inside so just changing the switch or actuator leaves the corrosion inside the connector on the original wiring. A perfect way to get intermittent operation. There's a TSB on this somewhere. As part of the fix there is a shield that is installed over the connectors to prevent water from getting on the connectors. Might ask the service guys about that.
Hope they figure it out!
Bill
 
Back